1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention generally pertains to burial caskets, and more specifically, ways to make them environmentally safer and cost effective with novel improvements.
2. Description of Related Art
Burial caskets evolved from a wooden box with a flat cover. A vast majority of the useable volume in today's burial caskets is still in the bottom part. Some areas, by tradition use a "half couch" casket with a two-part cover, which make any internal volume in the cover unusable. The covers are attached to the casket's bottoms with hinges.
As a result, the cadaver is usually raised for viewing, and then lowered in order to close the cover before the burial. This situation leads to the invention of the adjustable bed, U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,129, which represents an added cost. The threaded hole used to raise and lower the bed, sometimes tears the decorative lining when they get caught in it. If a cadaver is going to be viewed for a day or two, most funeral homes require it to be embalmed to slow down the deterioration and reduce the accompanying odor. This process replaces the normal bodily fluids with formaldehyde, a very dangerous and toxic chemical. The procedure is considered intrusive and tolerated only to permit one or two days of funeral home viewing.
Most of the caskets made in the United States are made of steel or wood. These materials in damp condition deteriorate. Many variables including the thickness of the material used, type of finish, amount of moisture present, chemicals present, galvanic conditions, etc., will actually determine how long before the structural integrity of the casket is compromised. Bodily and embalming fluids supply moisture and chemicals to the casket internally.
Other more corrosion-resistant metals are used such as copper/bronze and stainless steel, but sparingly because of the high cost. Even these metals deteriorate, especially when the conditions for galvanic corrosion are present. Some steel caskets use anodes to delay the galvanic corrosion. Fiberglass is used in some caskets. While it is resistant to corrosion, its relatively high cost makes it too expensive to make it thick enough to be structurally sound.
When caskets structurally collapse, the dirt above the casket caves in and the cemeteries had to fill in the hole with dirt. To alleviate this problem, many cemeteries now require concrete vaults. Decayed caskets and porous concrete vaults still could allow bodily and embalming fluids to contaminate the surrounding ground water. More expensive vaults with plastic and metal linings prevent this. If sometime in the future, cemeteries are dedicated to other uses, or more stringent environmental laws are passed, it will be costly to remove and dispose of or relocate these heavy concrete vaults and the caskets contained therein.
Metal caskets are made by joining pieces of metal together. Wood caskets are made by joining pieces of wood together. The seams are not always water and air tight, or remain so if they were. U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,439 was granted for a drip pan that would catch in the casket any leaking bodily or embalming fluids when it was in the funeral home, church, hearse, or mausoleum. Once buried this no longer remains an aesthetic or immediate health problem, but still may be a long term environmental one.
Some metal caskets come with a gasket. At one time they were sold as "air and water tight." Caskets that were not "air and water tight" in their construction, could not benefit from such a gasket. Even if "air and water tight," corrosion could eventually "eat" a hole through the casket and make the use of any gasket senseless. Odors and leakages are a problem in mausoleums and U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,632 was granted for enclosing and protecting entombment caskets while incorporating a pressure relief valve. U.S. Pat. No. 3,435,494 also employs a pressure relief valve.
Several types of locking devices are used to secure the casket cover shut during the transportation and burial. One very simple external lock is inexpensive. Another patented locking system, U.S. Pat. 5,060,993, is internal and more expensive. These lock at several points on the perimeter of the closure. They are made of metal and therefore they can corrode.
Wood caskets present a problem in rural areas. Rural cemeteries aren't always able to dig graves in the winter, so they put the caskets in cold storage until spring. This causes the wood to crack which is an early start on the final deterioration. When dense hardwood is used, caskets can weigh as much as two hundred pounds which can be a problem for the pall bearers especially when, in addition, the cadaver exceeds two hundred pounds.